Rust in custom loop?

[imjustdownloadin]

Hello Everyone,

Before I get to my question, This is a list of all my watercooling equipment for reference- *Using distilled water and a killcoil for coolant

1x Koolance CPU-370 Liquid Cooling Extreme CPU Block (no link)
2x Koolance VID-NX680 GeForce VGA Liquid Cooling Block
1x Black Ice GTX Xtreme 360 Radiator - Black
1x Black Ice GTX Xtreme 120 Radiator - Black
1x Swiftech MCP35X 12v PWM Controlled Water Pump - Black
1x EK-MultiOption RES X2 - 250 Advanced - Liquid Cooling Reservoir

All fittings except 120 rad (explained later) - Bitspower G1/4" Thread 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD Compression Fitting
1x IandH Silver KillCoil - Antimicrobial .999 Fine Silver Tubing / Reservoir Strip

I assembled my computer right after Ivy Bridge came out during the first week of May.

However, I forgot to buy a pair of 90 degree Bitspower fittings for my 120 radiator that I needed for the loop I designed. Instead of ordering a pair and waiting a few days, I impatiently bought 2 Black Iron 90 degree street elbows from Home Depot.

I installed everything and it worked great. After a few weeks, I started to notice that the water was starting to get slightly discolored in the reservoir. Eventually this discoloration spread throughout the entire loop. All of the plastic tubing is now coated in a red colored power like substance that I presume to be iron oxide (getting to that).

I ignored this problem for a long time until last week when my computer shut down unexpectedly. When I turned it on, the computer was displaying a CPU temperature error during POST. I went into BIOS and my CPU temp was over 80 degree celcius.

Last night I took it all apart and drained the system. The black iron fittings that were connected to my radiator were, well, basically clogged with this aforementioned red substance. I discovered that this red substance made its way into my 2 VGA blocks and the CPU block, and of course as well as the pump.

My question is-

Is it possible that the iron reacted with other metals in my loop and caused some sort of galvanic reaction? The CPU block and all of the bitspower fittings are coated in nickle, and I assume that the VGA blocks are as well. The Radiators are made out of copper.

If it isnt the metals, could it be that it was simple just the distilled water I used? A man at Home Depot told me that the oxygen in the water might have reacted with the iron to form iron oxide.

Lastly, do I need to unscrew all of my components and scrub them down? The VGA and CPU blocks dont look too difficult to unscrew, but the radiators and pump are a different story. I was hoping that I could just flush them out with vinegar or alcohol, is this an option?

I really would appreciate any advice, and I'm sorry for the wall of text.

Thank you very much!

Edit: I can provide pictures of what some of the red residue looks like later tonight if needed

This is what the computer looked like right after it was 100% complete. You can see the black iron fittings at the bottom

 

[Keiki646]

Hello Everyone,

Before I get to my question, This is a list of all my watercooling equipment for reference- *Using distilled water and a killcoil for coolant

1x Koolance CPU-370 Liquid Cooling Extreme CPU Block (no link)
2x Koolance VID-NX680 GeForce VGA Liquid Cooling Block
1x Black Ice GTX Xtreme 360 Radiator - Black
1x Black Ice GTX Xtreme 120 Radiator - Black
1x Swiftech MCP35X 12v PWM Controlled Water Pump - Black
1x EK-MultiOption RES X2 - 250 Advanced - Liquid Cooling Reservoir

All fittings except 120 rad (explained later) - Bitspower G1/4" Thread 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD Compression Fitting
1x IandH Silver KillCoil - Antimicrobial .999 Fine Silver Tubing / Reservoir Strip

I assembled my computer right after Ivy Bridge came out during the first week of May.

However, I forgot to buy a pair of 90 degree Bitspower fittings for my 120 radiator that I needed for the loop I designed. Instead of ordering a pair and waiting a few days, I impatiently bought 2 Black Iron 90 degree street elbows from Home Depot.

I installed everything and it worked great. After a few weeks, I started to notice that the water was starting to get slightly discolored in the reservoir. Eventually this discoloration spread throughout the entire loop. All of the plastic tubing is now coated in a red colored power like substance that I presume to be iron oxide (getting to that).

I ignored this problem for a long time until last week when my computer shut down unexpectedly. When I turned it on, the computer was displaying a CPU temperature error during POST. I went into BIOS and my CPU temp was over 80 degree celcius.

Last night I took it all apart and drained the system. The black iron fittings that were connected to my radiator were, well, basically clogged with this aforementioned red substance. I discovered that this red substance made its way into my 2 VGA blocks and the CPU block, and of course as well as the pump.

My question is-

Is it possible that the iron reacted with other metals in my loop and caused some sort of galvanic reaction? The CPU block and all of the bitspower fittings are coated in nickle, and I assume that the VGA blocks are as well. The Radiators are made out of copper.

If it isnt the metals, could it be that it was simple just the distilled water I used? A man at Home Depot told me that the oxygen in the water might have reacted with the iron to form iron oxide.

Lastly, do I need to unscrew all of my components and scrub them down? The VGA and CPU blocks dont look too difficult to unscrew, but the radiators and pump are a different story. I was hoping that I could just flush them out with vinegar or alcohol, is this an option?

I really would appreciate any advice, and I'm sorry for the wall of text.

Thank you very much!

This made have happen due to using the cheap parts The home Depot guy sold you.
Go to FrozenCPU and buy the correct parts but also buy the High Grade Distilled Water as well

Let me recommended some tips for you please.
1) Never re-use the same tubing after cleaning out your loop.

2) To clean the loop please used Lemon Juice and High grade Distilled water and have the system from each time for three time 30 minutes, This will act as a bleach to remove everything from the loop.

3) After you are down with cleaning the loops with the Lemon Juice and Distilled Water, you would want to do a full rinse cycle for 45 minutes just using blame Distilled Water and make sure all water is drain afterwards.

4) Make sure each bard or compression fitting is tightly tight before adding the Liquid

5) Make sure you add fresh Thermal Grease to the CPU and GPU blocks if remove but add fresh Thermal to the CPU. DO make sure to it's correctly apply it.

6) Once done cleaning everything including the blocks and adding fresh tubing NOTE: buy high quality tubing, Distilled Water and soon after of IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate Biocidal PC Coolant Additive switch you can buy from FrozenCPU. (Make sure to only add 2 drop to the LOOP switch this Biocidal is extremely strong)

Hope this help a little


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[rubix_1011]

Is it possible that the iron reacted with other metals in my loop and caused some sort of galvanic reaction? The CPU block and all of the bitspower fittings are coated in nickle, and I assume that the VGA blocks are as well. The Radiators are made out of copper.

That would be a very solid theory. Iron can and will rust when not coated, and even when it is, threads can become exposed and still oxidize. Since it's a closed loop, the rust has nowhere to go but collect. Having several metals in the loop might have caused an advanced oxidation and buildup as well, but most of those metals would be less likely to react with one another.

Plastic or vinyl fittings would have been a far more suitable alternative...and are readily available just a few bins over from the solid iron ones.

 

[imjustdownloadin]

1) Never re-use the same tubing after cleaning out your loop.

2) To clean the loop please used Lemon Juice and High grade Distilled water and have the system from each time for three time 30 minutes, This will act as a bleach to remove everything from the loop.

3) After you are down with cleaning the loops with the Lemon Juice and Distilled Water, you would want to do a full rinse cycle for 45 minutes just using blame Distilled Water and make sure all water is drain afterwards.

4) Make sure each bard or compression fitting is tightly tight before adding the Liquid

5) Make sure you add fresh Thermal Grease to the CPU and GPU blocks if remove but add fresh Thermal to the CPU. DO make sure to it's correctly apply it.

6) Once done cleaning everything including the blocks and adding fresh tubing NOTE: buy high quality tubing, Distilled Water and soon after of IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate Biocidal PC Coolant Additive switch you can buy from FrozenCPU. (Make sure to only add 2 drop to the LOOP switch this Biocidal is extremely strong)

Is the IandH Biocide safe to use with a killcoil or should I not put the killcoil back it?

This is the tubing that I used last time. What traits do you look for to determine if the tubing is of high quality?

Is it okay to test all of the WC components stand alone in a loop that is simple carefully rested on the top of my desk?

Lastly, should I be worried about any permanent damage dealt to my waterblocks caused by the residue? I would have to have to replace all of this expensive equipment.

Thank you everyone for all the help!

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

The biocide is safe to use with a killcoil. In fact, most of us recommend doing exactly that.

 

[rubix_1011]

The biocide is safe to use with a killcoil. In fact, most of us recommend doing exactly that.

It is exactly what I am currently running.

 

[imjustdownloadin]

I put 50/50 lemon juice and distilled water in the loop last night

At first there was very little flow, but this morning when I woke up it was probably 3-4 times faster. There must have been a ton of crap clogging up the components. Glad I didn't wait any longer to do this.

Its been about 12 hours now. Going to take it down soon and run it with distilled water for a while.

I ordered the biocide mentioned earlier in addition to tygon tubing.

 

[rubix_1011]

So now your radiator is likely full of junk and will need to be cleaned out (if possible). Should have disassembled the entire loop and used something like vinegar or CLR to rinse and clean...not run the crud through your loop.

 

[imjustdownloadin]

Oh sorry forgot to specify I'm only running the 2 vga blocks and the cpu block on the lemon loop at the moment. I'm going to tackle the rads soon. Its completely standalone from the computer, just using the psu to power the pump with jumped pins.

Ill try to flush the rads with clr, thanks for the advice

 

[rubix_1011]

Well just be careful, you don't want to cause chemical damage with something too strong. Vinegar would be a decent start to that. You might want to flush the loop and start over to rinse out the gunk and refill with a vinegar/water solution so you can control the concentration. I doubt that junk can be good on your pump...

 

[Keiki646]

The biocide is safe to use with a killcoil. In fact, most of us recommend doing exactly that.

The same here as well. Using Biocide and killcoil work well together

I am running both but I am happy to see that you've started the process into cleaning the loop and now the loop is running faster. Now all you have to do is run it with the distilled water to clean the rest out.

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